MORE than 100 mourners joined a funeral procession for a popular member of the north Hampshire travelling community.

Roads were closed as the coffin of Joseph Smith, 70, was drawn on a carriage by two white horses followed by friends and family from his home in Rectory Road, Hook, to St John’s Church, in London Road, where a funeral service was held for the Romany traveller, who settled in Hook in 1974 to raise his family.

After the burial, members of Mr Smith’s family released five white doves into the air.

His widow Carol Smith, 67, who married Mr Smith at Poole register office in April 1966, said: “It was smashing. There were beautiful flowers and lots of Joe’s friends came.

“We stopped for a minute outside the Raven Hotel on the way to the church which is where Joe used to like to drink.”

Mr Smith was born in a tent in Odiham in 1939 and travelled across the country in a horse-drawn wagon in his youth and had a great love for horses.

He was well-known for his annual Christmas stand by Homebase, off Winchester Road, Basingstoke, where he sold Christmas trees every year. Mr and Mrs Smith, who settled in Rectory Road, Hook, raised four daughters – Debbie, who is now 44, Jacqueline, 41, and twins Katie and Pauline, 40, who between them gave the couple 13 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

The much-loved great grandfather died from renal failure in the early hours of November 19 in his home, surrounded by his close family.